Greek PM hits out at Turkey over air space 'violations'

Davutoglu criticises Tsipras after Greek PM tells Ankara that "fortunately our pilots are not as mercurial as yours".

29 Nov 2015 22:25 GMT

Tsipras and Davutoglu talk to German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande at the Brussels summit [Eric Vidal/Reuters]

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has criticised remarks by his Greek counterpart, after Alexis Tsipras lashed out at Turkey over "violations" of Greece's air space, accusing it of creating an "outrageous" and "unbelievable" situation over the Aegean Sea, a gateway to Europe for thousands of refugees fleeing conflict.

Tsipras' comments came in a series of tweets late on Sunday, posted on the Greek and English versions of his account as president of the Syriza party.

The English tweets were deleted later on, even though the remarks still showed up on his Greek account at the time of publication of this article.

In the angry tweets directed towards Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Tsipras cited the recent downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey's air forces and praised the stance of Greek pilots for not being "as mercurial" as the Turkish ones.

1/4 To Prime Minister Davuto?lu: Fortunately our pilots are not as mercurial as yours against the Russians #EUTurkey

The tweets came after a Brussels summit, also attended by Davutoglu, during which the EU agreed to offer Turkey $3.2bn and political concessions in return for handling the refugees from war-torn countries on its territory.